Superintendent search begins
By Steve Herring
Published in News on February 24, 2015 1:46 PM
More than 20 applications, 40 percent from in-state, have been submitted for the job of superintendent of the Wayne County Public Schools.
The applications will be discussed in closed session, Board of Education Chairman Chris West said.
However, West said that he could not comment on whether the school board had discussed any applications during a three-and-a-half-hour closed session Monday morning.
The closed session was called to discuss the "qualifications, competence, performance, character, fitness, conditions of appointment of present and perspective public employees" and to preserve attorney/client privilege.
Schools Superintendent Dr. Steve Taylor retired effective Dec. 1, and Dr. Sandra McCullen, formerly associate superintendent for curriculum and instruction, was chosen to serve as interim superintendent through June.
"As far as the superintendent's position we are working together to eliminate candidates that we all mutually agree on based on criteria that we have set," West said following the meeting. "We do not have a timetable set."
The sooner a decision can be made, the better it will be for the district and for whoever makes the board's final panel to be interviewed, he said.
Obviously the others need to be made aware of the fact so they can seek other employment or whatever else they are trying to do, West said.
"We are now working through all of the applications and trying to come up with the criteria to apply to start eliminating some of them," he said.
West declined to say how many applications been received other than that it is more than 20, including some from out of state.
West said that he could not comment on whether the issue was discussed Monday.
"I can just tell you we were in executive session discussing school business," he said.
The school system is not using a "headhunter" to find a new superintendent, he said.
"We are doing it collectively as a board," he said. "It is a really important decision for us so we want to make sure that we choose the right candidates to choose from, No. 1, and then to choose the right one.
"We are looking at demographics -- school systems that are comparable in size, structure and what have you. We have some good applicants."
The position was advertised on the North Carolina School Boards Association website.
The association offers a service that it charges a fee for, but the school board chose instead just to use the free-listing site.
"We have had good feedback from it," West said. "If we had not gotten any feedback then obviously we would have had to have gone another route.
"Ours will end on the 28th of February, our application process. That is not to say that if we don't get the applicant that we think is best served for Wayne County Public Schools that we can't go back and re-advertise."
The posting notes that "central office and building-level experience are preferred. A doctorate degree or progress toward a doctorate degree is preferred but not required.
"A successful candidate will be required to live in the Wayne County School District. Applications will be accepted until a selection is made.
It notes that Wayne County is ranked 20th largest in the state, with an average annual enrollment of 19,400 students and has more than 300 employees.
Dr. Dwight Cannon did not attend the special called session. But during the closed session, the board used a video conference program so that he could be a part of the discussions.
Cannon did not rejoin the board when it returned to open session.
Board members did not comment when they returned to open session.
However, board member Eddie Radford thanked the board for what he called a "good job" for the things the board had to deal with.
"We came out of there kind of united," he said.